After the whistle: Relax on the refs

Feb. 19, 2013

Written by

The Eagle-Gazette Staff

With the girls district tournament entering second-round play and the boys tournament kicking off this week, I feel obligated to offer a piece of advice to spectators: Lay off the refs.

Don’t get me wrong, if a referee makes a bad call, let them hear about it. These are adults paid to properly officiate a game and if they make an error they deserve to be chastised for it. The student section “no way” chant or a parent objecting to a foul call is all fair game, but can we leave it at that? Can we stop the constant and ridiculous comments about the officials favoring a team?

I can’t sit down to cover a game without hearing the yells of “how much are they paying you?” or “homer” directed at referees, usually ad nauseam. If you genuinely believe that the zebras entered the game with some sort of rooting interest, or worse yet that they have been paid to sway the game in favor of a certain squad, you’re kidding yourself. The referees are trying their best. Their performances are evaluated both by the coaches and by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. If they continually make mistakes, they will get fewer games and therefore make less money.

If we are expected to laud the effort of the students in the game, can we not do the same for the officials? Implying they are not doing their best is a level of disrespect that would likely not be tolerated outside the gym.

Furthermore, ridiculing the referees in this way is detrimental to the team you are rooting for. You are sending the message to the players that the officials are out to get them. If the game is an uphill battle against the refs, why should the team bother trying? If they lose, they blame the officials rather than taking responsibility for it. Is that really the right way to look at it?

So, by all means, tell the refs when a mistake has been made in this years tournament (I’m sure there will be plenty), but understand that it is a mistake, and let it go. No one is out to get you or your favorite team, so let’s all stop acting like it.